Bike Advocacy

Urban Legend

If the idea Ryan Oelkers had was unlikely&mdash;to introduce the sport of bike racing to kids living in the toughest inner-city neighborhoods of Philadelphia&mdash;the outcome was absolutely unforeseeable

john brant

After the jumping jacks, Leroy leads the team through a hard series of core-building exercises, including planks, crunches, push-ups, and leg lifts. All the kids hang in, including Josh, although he barely lifts an inch during the push-ups and, during the planks, plops wearily on the floor. Leroy and the other kids gently encourage him. Then comes 10 more minutes of stair running, followed by more crunches and push-ups. There's no complaining or malingering, and when Oelkers asks if they want to call it quits, go home a little early today, the kids unanimously say no. Even Josh nods, signaling that he wants more.

"All right then," Oelkers agrees. "Go do a few more laps around the school. Then come back, grab some water, and we'll do a few relay races." The kids take off with a shout. Their coach watches them go. "They want to stick around because they're good kids and they really like being with each other," he explains. "And a few of them really care about getting faster and stronger on a bike. But the real reason they like being here is because it's so much better than whatever they've got waiting for them at home...if they have a home."

Hanks wanders down the hall to make a phone call. "Leroy is one of the kids who doesn't have a home," Oelkers says quietly. "He moves around between apartments and relatives. Sometimes his mom is around. Sometimes, I think, Leroy doesn't want her around." He pauses. "On more than a few nights my cell phone has rung at 2 a.m. It'll be Leroy's mother, wasted, cursing me out for taking her son away from her, for filling his head with dreams, making him into somebody she doesn't recognize or understand."

Early one morning last season, Oelkers goes on, he and Hanks had arranged to meet Sam, Festus, and Leroy at school, and then drive them to a triathlon in New Jersey. Sam and Festus showed up, but the ultraresponsible Leroy, who is never late for an appointment, failed to appear. They waited a long time, and finally Oelkers asked Festus to give Leroy a call at his mother's house. Festus made the call, but all he could hear was Leroy's mother, shouting and cursing. He held the phone away from his ear, so the others could hear her too.

"I told Victoria to go ahead to the race with Sam and Festus," Oelkers says. "When Leroy finally showed up, he was silent. He always talks, but not that morning. He didn't say a word, all the way to New Jersey. That was the longest drive of my life."

The kids return, goofing and guzzling water, then start hooting to start the relay races. Oelkers lets them make up their own rules for the races, which will go up and back the 50-meter-long hallway. He also lets them choose their own teams. Today, in honor of her birthday, Daesha will be one captain, and Leroy, of course, will be the other.

Daesha draws out the suspense, letting the hoots build to a crescendo, before picking Devon, who, other than Leroy, is the fastest boy present. Now it's Leroy's turn. There are a few other good athletes to choose from, but Leroy knows who he wants. He smiles and nods to the silent, overweight, unhappy-looking boy who's been struggling all afternoon. For his first pick, Leroy chooses Josh.